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2012 Pre-ADI Get-Together: Weird Whiskeys & Experimental Spirits


Andrew

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Folks:

March 30-31, the Friday and Saturday before ADI Louisville, we're having a very informal get-together in Nashville for distillers. March 29th is on the table if it's needed.

There are two goals:

1) To have an informal, low-pressure forum for active producers to get peer feedback on some of the non-traditional products they're fooling around with. Or, to be less diplomatic, a place where we can try each other's weird shit without the pressures of the conference hanging over us.

2) To let people who are interested have a launching point to hit the TN and southern KY distilleries that ADI won't be able to hit.

Please email me at andrew (at) corsairartisan.com if you are interested in the get together. We can get good room rates for downtown Nashville and, if we have a few participants, can look at some vans or a bus to get up to Louisville.

Details:

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Our plans for the "tasting" are to line up bottles on the spirits room bar at Corsair Nashville and just mingle, taste, and chat. The goal is to talk shop, get feedback from other folks trying unusual stuff, and to be able to try experimental spirits that might inspire new directions. Simple feedback sheets can be included, if wanted. The facility is in walking distance of plenty of food, and a few blocks from the downtown honkeytonks, so post-tasting needs can be well taken care of.

Corsair will have 30-odd different weird whiskeys on the bar (hopped, alternate grains, botanical infusions, smoked). Paul at MB Roland has offered to have a healthy selection of his whiskeys (smoked) available when we visit him.

To keep things casual, the weird-spirits drinking-and-shoptalk event will be open only to active producers and startup distilleries already prototyping. No vendors, press, distros, etc. so we can feel comfortable pulling out things not ready for primetime.

The craft distilleries you can hit from Nashville include:

o Corsair's Nashville location (the get-together host site) - whiskey mashing facility

o MB Roland (southern KY) - Paul smokes his corn in a traditional tobacco smoke shed

o Collier and McKeel (Nashville) - Mike makes his own sugar maple charcoal to make a charcoal mellowed sour mash

o Short Mountain (middle TN) - *ground* to glass, they're growing their own grain!

o Prichards (southern TN) - one of the first craft distilleries; rum and whiskey out of an old schoolhouse

o Smokey Mountain (east TN) - one of the top tourist focused distillery designs in the country

o non-craft, Jack and George - if you really want to

Best,

Andrew

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Folks:

I've been asked whether it's ok to send spirits to our get-together if attending is difficult, and whether we can bring the spirits we don't finish up to ADI.

Yes and absolutely.

If you'd like some peer feedback on your experimental/oddball spirits and cannot hit Nashville pre-ADI, we'll certainly take and drink your stuff. No promises on the quality of the review - there looks to be a high bottle-to-distiller ratio - but the participants will give everything friendly and open-minded feedback.

Experimentation is the best part of any craft boom, and that's what the tasting/shoptalk will be about. So if you're blending tequila and scotch then infusing with durian fruit, bring it down or send it. Just label well so we know what we're getting into.

Best,

Andrew

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  • 1 month later...

An update if you're interested but I haven't emailed you:

We're currently looking at about a 15-20 distillers for this meet-up. Plus a lot of booze. A world recognized spirits noser will also be on hand, which sounds like an exciting opportunity for us to learn a bit more on how to sample spirits.

We are going to be casual with this meetup. You are welcome to spend both Friday and Saturday outbound at distilleries, you can spend both days at the Corsair tasting room working through the spirits tasting, or split the difference.

That said, the "official" meet Weird Spirits meet and greet will be Saturday the 31st at Corsair Nashville from noon to 4:30 pm.

There will be a Nashville to Louisville carpool Sunday.

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